Chickpea Curry
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Vegetable Dishes Gluten-Free Recipes Indian
Chickpeas in spicy tomato and onion sauce from Northern India, Punjab. It's called Punjabi Chole and is my brother's favorite.
Ingredients
200g dried chickpeas (or 500g cooked chickpeas)
2 red onions
4 canned tomatoes + 1 tablespoon of their juice
1 red hot pepper (or to taste, depending on how spicy you want the dish)
1 teaspoon grated ginger paste
1 teaspoon crushed garlic (about 7-8 cloves)
1 tablespoon full-fat yogurt (Greek 10%)
1 teaspoon toasted ground sesame (I grind it in a coffee grinder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground garam masala
1/2 small lemon
3 tablespoons oil
salt
Whole Spices
1 bay leaf
10 black peppercorns
2 green cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 piece of 1cm cinnamon stick
Servings: 3
How to prepare chickpea curry
- For the ground garam masala, use this blend that I also used for Baingan Bharta.
- If using dried chickpeas, cook them according to the instructions here. Drain. If your chickpeas are already cooked, weigh out 500g. Reserve the cooking water from the chickpeas, you will need it for preparing the sauce. The chickpeas can be cooked several days in advance.
- In a food processor, place the chopped onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and hot pepper. Blend until you have a smooth paste.
- Heat the oil in a wide pot/pan. Add the whole spices and fry for 1 minute until they start to smell fragrant.
- Add the vegetable paste from the food processor. Rinse the processor with a little water and pour it over the paste. Simmer the sauce covered for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue cooking, stirring frequently now, until the sauce reduces and looks dry, almost no liquid remaining (about 10 minutes).
- Add the yogurt, ground sesame, turmeric, and ground masala. Add salt to taste and the juice from 1/2 small lemon.
- Deglaze with 2 ladles of the chickpea cooking water. Simmer covered for 10 minutes until the sauce reduces slightly and oil pools on the edges.
- Add the chickpeas, add a bit more chickpea water so the sauce isn't too thick (I used 1/2 ladle) and simmer covered for another 10 minutes. Adjust salt.
- Serve warm, garnished with parsley or fresh coriander, onion and tomato slices, alongside basmati rice or Indian bread.
Vegetable paste
Fried paste
Add the spices, yogurt, and chickpea water
Add chickpeas
